In November, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a landmark religious-freedom case, Town of Greece v. Galloway. The case will decide whether starting a town meeting with a prayer led by a volunteer member from many different religious traditions -- including Christian, Jewish, Bahá’í, and Wiccan -- violates the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.

An amicus curiae, or "friend-of-the-court," brief filed with the Court by The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C., was discussed during the argument. The Becket brief argues that the Court should take a history-based approach to the Establishment Clause.

"The Founders knew what it meant to have a state church and legislative prayer doesn't come close," according to Eric Rassbach, The Becket Fund's deputy general counsel. "The Founders had been colonists in an empire with an established church and most of the colonies also had established churches. Legislative prayer wasn't what they banned when they said there would be no official state church.

"The Town didn't adopt an official state religion by randomly assigning Christians, Jews, Bahá’ís, and Wiccans to deliver invocations at council meetings," he said. "In fact, it's hard to think what official religion that could possibly be."